1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive childproof safety lock control apparatus including a childproof safety lock unit which can be displaced to an unlocking state where a release of a door latch from a latching state through a door opening control by an inner handle provided inside a vehicle can be enabled and a locking state where the release can be disabled.
The present invention also relates to an automotive door latch control apparatus which includes a lock unit which can be displaced to an unlocking state where the lock unit can transmit a door opening control force applied by a control handle provided on a door to a door lock and a locking state where the lock unit cannot transmit the door opening control force.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a control apparatus of a door latch provided on a rear side door of a vehicle, a childproof safety lock unit is provided which enables the opening of the rear side door by controlling an outer handle provided on an outside of the door in such a way as to open the door but disables the opening of the door by an inner handle provided on an inside of the door. This childproof safety lock unit is such as to prevent the door from being opened by particularly a child who mishandles or mischievously plays with the inner handle while the vehicle is running, and a controlling portion is hidden between the door and a body of the vehicle in such a state that the door is closed so as not to be operated while running (refer to, for example, JP-A-2005-138696).
Further, in an automotive door latch control apparatus, a so-called a double-action override control is known in which when a lock unit which can be displaced to an unlocking state where a door opening control force of a control handle provided on an inside of a door is made available and a locking position where the door opening control force is made unavailable is in the locking state, the lock unit is switched over from the locking state to the unlocking state through a first control of the control handle, and following this, a door latch is released from a latching state through a second control of the control handle to thereby open the door (for example, refer to JP-A-11-166338).
In the control apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2005-138696, however, the door needs to be opened to control the childproof safety lock unit. Due to this, in the event that the childproof safety lock unit is failed to be controlled into a locking state before the vehicle starts, the childproof safety lock unit cannot be put into the locking state once the vehicle has started running. In contrast, in the event that the childproof safety lock unit is in the locking state, since the door cannot be opened from the inside of the vehicle even when the vehicle is at rest, the driver gets out of the vehicle to open the door from the outside of the vehicle each time the door needs to be opened. Consequently, the driver and the occupants have to open and close the door while being conscious about the state of the childproof safety lock unit, and thus, the control apparatus has a problem that it is inconvenient for use.
Incidentally, this problem can be solved by designing such that power of an actuator that is made up of a motor or the like is used to control the childproof safety lock unit, as well as releasing the door latch from the latching state. However, when designed in such a way, there are necessary two actuators, one for controlling the childproof safety lock unit and the other for releasing the door latch from the latching state, producing another problem that an increase in production costs is called for.
Further, in the control apparatus disclosed in JP-A-11-166338 above, however, in order to release the door latch from the latching state when the lock unit is in the locking state, the control handle has to be controlled twice, and hence, the door cannot be opened quickly.